Weekly Whale Watching Report ~ May 29, 2023 – June 4, 2023

Great Blue Whales, Feeding Fin Whales, and Mighty Minke Whales!

Blue Whale season is here and usually lasts from May to September. This week we even saw a blue whale, the largest animal, believed to be the same animal seen years ago, affectionately called “Bubbles,” recognized because this whale consistently displays a large “bubble blast” before diving and bringing its flukes high out of the water.

We love blue whales, but these Minkes stole the show this week. They often mugged our boats, repeatedly surfacing on both sides of the boat going from one side to the other. We enjoyed the antics of a most energetic and frisky Minke whale that breached more than twenty times, often coming entirely out of the water, making it a very memorable experience.

Fin whales are still feeding on krill in our local waters, and one day we even saw a humpback whale breaching in the distance!

Several pods of unusually boat-friendly socializing Risso’s dolphins with calves were encountered. They often displayed spy hopping, tail slaps, breaching, and even bow riding, which is somewhat unusual for this species. We even found mixed pods of both Risso’s and bottlenose dolphins! Other various size pods of both coastal and offshore bottlenose dolphins also had calves. Multiple sightings of long-beaked common dolphin pods with claves were seen, including feeding frenzies accompanied by sea birds and sea lions.

Hungry Mola molas still finding By-the-Wind-Sailors to ingest, and a rare Brown Booby bird landed on one of our boats!